WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
German Foreign Minister Analene Berbock, who is making a surprise visit to Kiev, warned against falling for Russian delaying tactics in peace talks to end the war in Ukraine.
The outgoing German diplomat, who is visiting Ukraine for the ninth time since the Kremlin launched its invasion in February 2022, said she believes Kiev is ready to sign a peace agreement amid intensive negotiations led by the United States.
"At the upcoming meeting of NATO foreign ministers, we will make it clear to the American side that they should not engage in Putin's delaying tactics," she said in a statement after arriving in Kiev on April 1.
Her statement comes after US President Donald Trump threatened Russia with new tariffs on oil products if Moscow blocks his ceasefire initiatives.
Trump also said Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky would face "big problems" if he did not sign a key rare earths agreement with Washington.
"He is trying to pull out of the rare earths agreement, and if he does, he will have problems, big, big problems," Trump told reporters on March 30 regarding the Ukrainian president.
"We made an agreement on rare earths. And now he says, you know, I want to renegotiate the agreement. He wants to be a member of NATO, but he will never be a member of NATO. He understands that," Trump added.
The Ukrainian government said on March 28 that it was still reviewing a draft agreement with the United States on rare earths, amid media reports that Washington had changed the terms of the agreement several times.
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko announced at a cabinet meeting that Kiev would form its position on the agreement, but that lawmakers would only present their position once a consensus was reached. Before that, she said, a public debate would be harmful.
Ukraine possesses significant quantities of rare earth minerals. The raw materials are highly valued for their use in defense technology, as well as in devices such as computers, smartphones and batteries.
Ukraine and the United States agreed earlier this month to conclude a comprehensive agreement to develop Ukraine’s rare earth resources. Efforts to reach an agreement collapsed on February 28 after a verbal spat between Trump and Zelensky at the White House.
Meanwhile, Trump said on March 30 that he would impose secondary tariffs of between 25 and 50 percent on all Russian oil if he felt President Vladimir Putin was blocking his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump told NBC in a telephone interview over the weekend that he was “very angry” after Putin called for a transitional government in Ukraine, which could effectively oust Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“If Russia and I can’t come to an agreement to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it’s Russia’s fault, and maybe it’s not, but if I think it’s Russia’s fault, I will put secondary tariffs on oil, all the oil that comes from Russia,” Trump said.
“That would mean that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” Trump said. “There will be a 25 percent tariff on all the oil, a 25 to 50 percent tariff on all the oil.”
He added that the trade measures would be imposed within a month if a ceasefire agreement was not reached.
The sensitive diplomatic moment comes after the White House announced on March 25 that both Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a ceasefire and to allow shipping in the Black Sea, as well as an agreement not to attack each other’s energy facilities.
Kiev said that segment of the agreement would come into force immediately, while Moscow said it would be followed by a partial lifting of sanctions targeting Russian companies and banks involved in international food trade.
